At the moment, James Gunn is wearing two hats – and by any standard, they’re particularly wide-brimmed ones. Towards the end of 2022, he was confirmed to be running the newly-reorganised DC Films alongside Peter Safran, cooking up a whole new slate for the comics giant. But before that really kicks into gear, he has the small matter of finishing up long-awaited threequel, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 – a film that looks set to wrap up his near-decade of creating cosmic comic book movies at Marvel.
Speaking to Empire in the Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania issue, Gunn describes the final stretch of Guardians Vol. 3 as “my day job” – while the early stages of planning a fresh batch of comic book movies at DC Studios is, for now, “a very healthy part-time job that’s at least another 40 to 60 hours a week”. Closing out Vol. 3 will be the end of an era for the writer-director – and while that brings bittersweetness, it seems Gunn is confident that his time working with the cast who brought Marvel’s intergalactic A-holes to life isn’t over. “This cast are like my family,” he says. “I cannot tell you how close I am to Chris Pratt and Pom [Klementieff] and Dave [Bautista] and Zoe [Saldaña] and Karen [Gillan]. But I also know I will work again with all those people individually again.” He adds, laughing: “Probably at my other job.”
For now, Gunn has several months left before Guardians Vol. 3 wraps up the story of Peter Quill and co – and it’s currently unknown exactly when his DC slate will be unveiled. Either way, it’s going to be an especially significant year for comic book cinema, on both sides.
Read Empire’s full Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 story in the world-exclusive Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania issue – on sale Thursday 19 January and available to order online here. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 comes to UK cinemas from 5 May.